The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety. The varietal denomination of the new variety is ‘Amandine’. The new variety was designated by the breeder as ‘Amadine DA 47’. The new variety of strawberry was created in a breeding program by crossing two parents in 2005 in Le Barp, France; in particular, by crossing as seed parent an undistributed strawberry parent designated ‘88.09.06’ (unpatented) and as pollen parent an strawberry parent designated ‘Mara des Bois’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,517). Seed parent is a selection from breeder's program and has not been commercialized.
The resulting seedling of the new variety was grown and asexually propagated by runners in Segovia, Spain, 3° 59′W., 41° 22′N., 2742 feet elevation. Clones of the new variety were further asexually propagated and extensively tested. This propagation and testing has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein which characterize the new variety are fixed and retained true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The growing period in Gironde, France, where the observations were made, is between about May, 15 and October, 15 of each year, with a maximum production at about beginning July. ‘Amandine’ is a fully remontant (non flowering runners) variety that benefits from induction to flowering by very low chilling, usually a few hours are sufficient, preferably at temperatures of 7° C. or less.
Among the characteristics which appear to distinguish the new variety from other varieties are a combination of traits which include: inflorescence that appears above relative to the foliage, same size of calyx relative to corolla and abundant production of orange red colored, cordiform shaped, and medium firm fruit, large fruit size, and early time of ripening (50% of plants with ripe fruits).
The new variety ‘Amandine’ is distinguished there from its Seed parent ‘88.09.06’ (unpatented) in that the new variety is more vigorous and the production of commercial quality fruit of seed parent ‘88.09.06’ (unpatented) is about 478 g/plant compared to that of the new variety ‘Amandine’ of about 513 g/plant. The Seed parent ‘88.09.06’ (unpatented) shows a red fruit color about Medium Orange-Red 34C to Medium Orange-Red 34B less intense than in the new variety ‘Amandine’ about Medium Red 45B to Medium Red 45A.
The new variety ‘Amandine’ is distinguished there from its pollen parent ‘Mara des Bois’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,517) in that the new variety has a larger fruit size of approximate 13 to 15 g/fruit compared to approximate 10 to 12 g/fruit of the pollen parent. The Pollen parent ‘Mara des Bois’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,517) shows a more intense red fruit color about Medium Red 46B to Dark Red 46A compared to that of the new variety ‘Amandine’ of about Dark Red 45B to Dark Red 45A.
The new variety ‘Amandine’ is closest to the variety ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) but is distinguished therefrom by having a flat globose habit compared to flat in ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented). The shape of base of terminal leaflet in ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) is obtuse compared to acute in ‘Amandine’, and the new variety ‘Amandine’ has a smaller number of stolons than ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented). Meanwhile, the position relative to the foliage of the inflorescence in ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) is level with, while it is above in ‘Amandine’. the fruit color of ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) is about Medium Red 46C to Medium Red 46B, whereas in ‘Amandine’ it is a red fruit color Medium Red 45B to Dark Red 45A, while the color of flesh in fruits of ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) is about Medium Red 40C to Medium Red 40D, whereas the color of flesh in fruits of ‘Amandine’ is about Medium Orange-Red 31B to Medium Orange-Red 32B. The Predominant shape of fruit in ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) is conical, than the predominant shape of fruit in ‘Amandine’ is cordiform.
The differences in the position of the inflorescence relative to foliage in ‘Amandine’ and ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) are shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 respectively. The differences in the shape of the base of the terminal leaflet of ‘Amandine’ and ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) are shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 respectively. The differences in the shape and color of the fruit of ‘Amandine’ and ‘Charlotte’ (unpatented) are shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 9 respectively.